After Mark Driscoll's highly publicized resignation from the church he founded nearly two decades ago, former Mars Hill leaders and members are calling for a return to worship Sunday.
Kevin Potts hasn't attended a service at his old church in Ballard for 7 years.
"I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen when I show up to church tomorrow morning," he said. "My purpose isn't to show up and say, 'Ha ha, Mark's gone, we won.'"
Potts joined Mars Hill when only a couple hundred people attended 14 years ago. He served as a worship coordinator as Sunday crowds grew to several thousand.
In 2007, he left as Driscoll, he says, took control unlike ever before.
"Do what we say because we said it," he described the attitude at the time.
In a Change.org petition just posted online, former pastors call for a repeal of the Mars Hill 2007 bylaws, calling them the "crippling of Mars Hill Church" by consolidating power from 24 elders to Driscoll's executive lead.
It's when Potts decided to quit.
"The abuse of authority by its leadership," he remembered. "They expected unquestioning submission to their authority."
Potts never expected to return. Now, he's one of a handful of former Mars Hill leaders changing their mind.
"Hopefully helping that church rebuild into something that glorifies Christ."
Potts and a half-dozen others are calling for a return to Mars Hill.
Former elder Rob Smith writes, "NOT to leave in disgust but to stay to rebuild the walls of the broken church....It is my prayer that I am not the only bruised and wounded soldier limping back."
Smith, Potts and a few others are still the minority. Many others refuse to return to Mars Hill citing brokenness driven by leadership that hasn't changed despite Driscoll's departure.
Potts originally felt that way, but says he changed his mind, and wants to attend worship Sunday so he can be available to people who may be confused or hurt.
"There's healing that can come out of this. You're not being forgotten," he said. "A faith in Christ is a faith in redemption and healing. If we're not willing to put that foot forward and say, 'I will help with that', what right do we have to call ourselves followers of Christ?"
Editor's note: After this story aired, Mars Hill told KING 5 that Rob Smith was never an elder or pastor at Mars Hill. According to Smith, he was asked to serve as the pastor of community groups for Wedgwood campus, a position he accepted and started two weeks before he was placed under church discipline for asking that another pastor have a fair trial. Soon after, Smith left the church.
